Findlay sues Moon, airport authority over water and sewer service

The Findlay Township Municipal Authority is suing Allegheny County, the Allegheny County Airport Authority and Moon Township’s Municipal Authority over which entity gets to provide water to Pittsburgh International Airport.

The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Common Pleas Court, contends that the airport authority is improperly purchasing all of its water and sewage service from Moon, even for areas of the facility that are in Findlay.

It seeks a court order requiring the county and airport authority to purchase water and sewer services for its property in Findlay from the Findlay authority.

“We simply want the county and its airport authority to comply with state law,” said Findlay authority general manager Jason Orsini in a news release. “The legislature has made it clear that there should be one and only one provider of water and sewer service in each jurisdiction. And it’s very clear, the airport terminal is in Findlay Township.”

Austin Henry, the solicitor for the Moon authority, called the lawsuit “ridiculous” and “bizarre.”

Moon has been providing water and sewer service to the airport facilities for more than 60 years, Henry said.

Despite its assertion that it has spent $31 million in infrastructure upgrades since 2006, Findlay is unable to provide potable water service and would have to subcontract out that service, Henry said.

He also said that because of the airport’s location, state environmental regulations say that Findlay can’t treat sewage flow in that watershed.

“It shows how ridiculous the lawsuit is,” Henry said. “They cannot provide the actual services.”

Instead, he continued, Findlay would have to purchase the services elsewhere and then mark the prices up to the airport.

Neither Findlay authority officials nor their solicitor would respond to Henry’s comments, saying that the matter is now in litigation.

For the fiscal year ending in June, the airport authority paid Moon $318,964 for water service and $220,442 for sewer service, Henry said.

Bob Kerlik, a spokesman for the Airport Authority, said he could not comment on pending litigation.

Amie Downs, a spokeswoman for the county, also declined to comment for the same reason.

The lawsuit asserts that Findlay and Moon had long-standing agreements that Moon would provide water and sewer service to customers in Findlay, but because those agreements have expired — or are about to expire — Moon no longer has a right to provide water or sewer service to the airport’s facilities in Findlay Township.

But Henry said that is not true.

Moon has a right to provide services to adjacent communities, and state law also says that municipalities are not supposed to duplicate already-existing services, which Findlay would be doing.

“If they are going to construct lines to the airport, they would be the ones duplicating services,” Henry said.

Even though large portions of the airport facility are in Findlay, the lawsuit said that the county and airport authority contend that they can obtain water and sewer service from whomever they want and have refused all efforts of the Findlay Authority to negotiate.

“If Allegheny County were permitted to shop around for its water and sewer services at the international airport, what’s to prevent it from doing the same at the county airport, or at any of its community college campuses and facilities,” Orsini said in a news release. “For that matter, what’s to prevent a private company or organization from doing the same.”